Location: Plant Stress and Germplasm Development Research
Project Number: 3096-21000-022-040-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Apr 23, 2021
End Date: Sep 1, 2021
Objective:
1. Identify proteins involved in maintaining fiber quality under drought stress through proteomic analysis on seeds of selected cotton progeny and germplasm.
2. Evaluate root cell wall composition on cotton progeny or germplasm with known resistance/susceptibility response to pathogen infection such as FOV races 1 and 4 (FOV1 and FOV4), and root-knot nematode (RKN).
Approach:
Overall crop production must increase while conserving and preserving natural resources to meet the food, fiber and energy needs of an increasing population. Producing more with diminishing water resources and emerging threat-crop diseases is an especially daunting endeavor. Drought is one of the primary reasons for loss of cotton yield and quality, hence there is a need to develop lines which can maintain fiber yield and quality under limited water conditions. In addition, Multiple evidences from model and crop species demonstrated that the cell wall acts as a physical barrier against pathogen infection. Hence it is possible to enhance cotton resistance against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum (FOV) by identifying cotton entries with stronger cell walls which acts as a strong physical barrier against pathogen entry-infection. Research using a diverse set of cotton lines and mapping populations with different response to drought and disease resistance at the USDA-ARS, Lubbock indicated that it is possible to maintain high fiber quality under limited water (LW) conditions or reduce the LW impact on quality. In addition, Breeding material or cotton entries have been selected/developed with resistance to FOV such as race 4 (FOV4) and root-knot nematode (RKN) by USDA-ARS and University cooperators. These and additional entries of interest identified from ongoing screening and selection efforts at the USDA-ARS and/or other germplasm sources will be used as appropriate for this project. More than 1,000 progeny and germplasm, commercial cultivars have been evaluated under well or regular watered (RW) and limited (LW) conditions. Comparative analysis of fiber quality under these two stress conditions led to the identification of several lines with no difference in the quality as well as lines with extreme compromise in fiber quality. These lines offer an excellent opportunity for a comparative proteomic analysis to identify proteins that are associated with fiber quality maintenance under limited water conditions. Seed proteomic analysis is an emerging area of investigation and studies showed that exposure of seed of other crops to cold resulted in induction of proteins associated with translation, fatty acid biosynthesis and stress related proteins. We hypothesize that certain lines maintained fiber quality under drought stress due to the accumulation of drought tolerant proteins. Identification of protein marker(s) will serve as selection markers in the cotton breeding program for improved fiber quality under limited water conditions. In addition, breeding lines will be used to isolate cell walls and analyze its composition using a histochemical analysis of the cotton root cross sections using staining of various cell wall polymers. So far, resistance in Upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.) has not been reported and commercial Upland varieties are not available. Therefore, there is still a critical need to identify and develop upland cotton germplasm and cultivars with disease resistance, especially to FOV4.
